The invention relates to a storage and order assembly—or order picking system. The invention furthermore relates to a method for storing articles, particularly including order picking.
Storage and order picking systems are among others used at wholesalers, such as the trade in (spare) parts, and at retailers, such as apothecaries and supermarket delivery services.
In a first known system use is made of a frame in which a number of rows and columns of elongated storage sections are accommodated, that are oriented perpendicular to the supply side and which each are provided with a belt conveyor on which articles can be placed by a carrier that can be moved up and down and along the supply side. When an article has to be added to a selected storage section the belt conveyor is shifted up one place and the article is placed on the vacated spot on the belt conveyor. The articles placed previously then are shifted up one step. When receiving more than one article the belt conveyor is moved back in steps and the carrier picks up said articles. They are then taken to a collection location by the carrier, for putting the desired order together. A shortcoming of this system is the low speed. Furthermore the known system with drives for all belt conveyors of storage sections is complex and failure prone. When the depth of the system should be kept limited, more storage sections are required and the distances of movement for the carrier become longer.
In another known system, racks are positioned transverse to the main path, separated from one another by a transverse path, in which a carrier can be moved up and down and reciprocally. The racks form elongated storage sections, extending parallel to the transverse path, and from there, that means transverse to the storage sections, they are accessible by the carrier. This system has large dimensions in transverse direction.